Mick Hartley

From the Times – China ‘still building Uighur detention camps’:

China has 380 detention facilities built or under construction in the far west region of Xinjiang, contradicting claims by Beijing that all “students” in its “education and vocational training centres” had “graduated”.

The findings, revealed in a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, are the most comprehensive tally so far of the detention camps that have been built since spring 2017 to lock up members of Muslim minorities as part of the country’s sweeping anti-terrorism campaign in Xinjiang.

“This is the largest database of Xinjiang’s detention facilities in existence, and we believe that it covers most such facilities,” wrote Nathan Ruser, the lead researcher. “The findings of this research contradict Chinese officials’ claims that all ‘trainees’ from so-called vocational training centres had ‘graduated’ by late 2019. Available evidence suggests that many extrajudicial detainees in Xinjiang’s vast ‘re-education’ network are now being formally charged and locked up in higher security facilities, including newly built or expanded prisons, or sent to walled factory compounds for coerced labour assignments.”

Washington is putting pressure on Beijing over its rights record in Xinjiang. The Trump administration has sanctioned 48 Chinese companies and several Chinese officials, including Chen Quanguo, the regional party chief, over their roles in the detention of as many as one million members of the Muslim minorities, largely the Uighur.

The extrajudicial detention of the Muslims and reports of rights violations have drawn harsh condemnation from the West but Beijing insists that the programme is warranted to “purge radical thoughts” from the population by subjecting local Muslims to courses on law, the Chinese language and job skills. Party officials argue that the fact that the region has been free of violence for more than three years legitimises the measure.

In all, ASPI identified 380 suspected detention facilities built since 2017 in the region, several months after Mr Chen became the region’s party chief and pushed for legislation that allowed the construction of such facilities. Last December Shohrat Zakir, the governor of Xinjiang, told the press that all students at “education and vocational training centres” had graduated.

But ASPI, drawing on latest satellite images, said that at least 61 suspected detention facilities showed signs of new construction and expansion between July 2019 and July 2020, and that 14 were under construction this year.

As we heard yesterday, Beijing is so pleased with its work in Xinjiang that it appears to be extending the system to Tibet. And Inner Mongolia may very well be next in line.